Peg’s Posts: Marathon math.

My biggest puzzler was setting a goal for my finish time. I typically set three goals for any race. My A is a “pie in the sky” goal. It’s a goal that I’m really not sure I can attain, but I’m gonna shoot for it anyway to push myself. My A goal for Disney was 3 hours, 46 minutes, which would be my Boston qualifying time (including the 1 minute “grace period”). My B goal is a time I’m pretty sure I can hit, and my C goal is basically my “I can live with it” time if the wheels fall off and race conditions or my performance is off for the day.

Now, how do you put marathon math to work and come up with some concrete numbers? I used a half marathon in October as my first test. I ran the Kansas City half marathon, which is a hilly course, in 1:43.41 and felt pretty good afterward. So, double the time, add roughly 15 minutes and I’m within my goal time for the marathon. I also used an online pace calculator tool from the Runner’s World site. These tools are great for gauging realistic goal times and paces for various race distances based on a race you’ve already completed, like a 5k.

To make sure I was staying on pace throughout my marathon, I customized my Forerunner 405 training page to show time, average pace and distance. While my pace was pretty consistent in the first half of my race, I had to make a decision later on: stop at a med tent and apply a blister bandage, or take my chances and keep going. If you check my run in Garmin Connect, you’ll notice the 90-second layover at mile 16. I did make the stop and just couldn’t quite make up the lost time over the remaining miles. No regrets, though. Only new goals to shoot for next time.

Stay tuned next week for more marathon training tips and find out who won the contest to predict Peg’s pace.

The post Peg’s Posts: Marathon math. appeared first on Garmin Blog.